Sitting On It

The Associated Press has issued a "clarification" regarding their reporting on Michael Brown's sniping at President Bush. Note the time on the story:

AP FRIDAY NIGHT CLARIFICATION ON BUSH/KATRINA VIDEO
Fri Mar 03 2006 19:48:29 ET

Clarification: Katrina-Video story
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a March 1 story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials.

The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking.

The day before the storm hit, Bush was told there were grave concerns that the levees could be overrun. It wasn't until the next morning, as the storm was hitting, that Michael Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had inquired about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that briefing.

They "corrected" their error at twelve minutes before eight o'clock in the evening, well into the weekend news cycle. Weekend newspapers were nearly ready to go to press, broadcast network news was in pre-production stages, and nobody was going to make room for this.

I submit to the world that the AP editors knew this, and held the story until Friday evening, when it would get as little exposure as possible.

(H/T: Drudge.)

Posted on 03/04/2006 at 10:29:52 AM EST.